Serzh Sargsyan Presented False Figures About Economy

Yesterday Armenia’s president Serzh Sargsyan, talking about economic development in Armenia in an interview to Russian TV anchor Dmitry Kiselev, stated that “Our economy has grown by 20 percent in the last 5 years.” Then, talking about Armenia’s success in the Eurasian Economic Union, Sargsyan said that “both last and this year we significantly increased our exports. This year we have increased our exports to almost 50 percent. The major part of it, of course, to the Eurasian Economic Union”.

GDP

However, the reality is quite different. In particular, Armenia’s GDP in 2016, according to the IMF forecasts, will amount to 10.77 billion US dollars, while 5 years ago, in 2011, it was 10.15 billion.

In other words, Armenia’s GDP grew by only 6% in the last 5 years. In other words, Serzh Sargsyan presented a three times higher number of the growth of Armenia’s economy.

If we compare the 2015 data with 2010 data, we will get 14 percent of economic growth. However, 14 is not 20 either. Therefore, it is not clear what 20 percent increase has the president seen.

Exports

While Serzh Sargsyan recorded “export growth” in 2015, the reality is quite different. In particular, in 2015 compared to 2014, exports from Armenia have reported a decline of 3.9 percent.

In the first 9 months of 2016, although 2015 saw an increase of 19 percent over the same period, however, this growth is due not to the export of goods produced in Armenia, but the re-export of the Turkish products banned in Russia. In other words, this growth has nothing to do with Armenia’s economy, while the majority of products ensuring this growth are not even produced in Armenia.

Therefore, it is not clear what 50 percent growth has the President mentioned, when the real export growth in 2016 in fact is almost three times less.

P.S. As a reminder, this is not the first time that the President distorts the real picture of the economy in an interview with foreign media. A similar case was registered in May 2015, in Sargsyan’s interview to Washington Post. In August this year Russian President Vladimir Putin made a statement with false figures about Armenia’s GDP.